Fright Night: The Bad Review
by ninewood
Summary: A show reviewer learns that not everything in Peter Vincent's act is a trick


The Bad Review

"Have you seen this?!" Peter Vincent shouted as he waved the newspaper in front of Ginger's face and she sighed, rolling her eyes.

"Yeah, I have," she said when she went back to doing her nails and he tossed the newspaper onto the bar.

"He calls me a drunken fake!" Peter snarled and poured the Midori into a glass.

"Well, you are," she said as he glared at her and tossed back the Midori. "Face it, your show bites."

"At least something around here does," he muttered and she sneered at him.

"Look, you just need to think up a new trick and have him come back," she said when she got up and walked to him. She saw the anger in his eyes when she brushed the hair from behind his ear then turned his head toward her and kissed his lips.

"Yeah," Peter sighed then placed his elbows on the bar then wiped his face with his hands. "But what can I do that I haven't already done?"

"You'll think of something," she said, patting his bottom and he gave her a soft smile.

The showroom was busy as customers found their seats and a tall man with balding black hair and green eyes sat at a table near the stage. He wasn't sure that seeing Fright Night again would change his mind about Peter, but he had received an email saying Peter had come up with a brand new trick and he was to be given V.I.P. seating. The waitress placed his drink in front of him as the lights went down and dramatic music filled the room. The light flared as Peter appeared on stage in full make up and costume and the man sighed, sitting back in the chair.

"This is the same as last time," he muttered as he took out a notepad and a pen and looked at Peter. Suddenly the doors at the back of the room slammed open as Peter looked at the figure standing in the doorway and his eyes widened. The reviewer turned to look at what Peter was looking at then sighed and shook his head. "Oh come on. He's obviously a plant."

"Peter, is he a part of the trick?" Ginger whispered as Peter glanced at her and balled his hand into a fist.

"No," Peter said as the figure walked closer and the customers screeched as whatever it was tossed tables aside as though they were made of paper.

"Now this is just reckless," the reviewer said as he wrote on the notepad and the screaming echoed around him.

Peter watched as the figure came closer and he recognized what it was. The figure was roughly around seven feet tall with green skin speckled with warts and was extremely muscular. The round head was sitting on a thick neck and the finger nails on the figure's three fingered hands were broken. The face of the figure consisted of a large bulbous nose, a thin lipped mouth, deeply sunk in yellow eyes and large pointed ears. Long, black hair covered the head and the sharp teeth stuck out of the figure's mouth. The figure was wearing fur trunks and a large, stone blade axe was strapped to the figure's back.

"What is that thing?!" Ginger demanded.

"It's a troll," Peter sighed.

"What do we do?"

"Run!" Peter shouted as staff, stage hands, his girls and the rest of the customers ran and Peter jumped off the stage. People ran in all directions as he watched the troll smashing things when he saw the reviewer sitting at the table and widened his eyes. "Are you kidding me?!"

He walked over as the reviewer looked up then wrote on the notepad until Peter picked the notepad up and tossed it across the room.

"What are you doing?!" the reviewer demanded as Peter pulled him off the chair and turned him toward the troll.

"For your information, THAT is not a part of my act. It's real. Now I want you to run or it will kill you," he said and the reviewer glared at him.

"Are you insane?! There is no such thing as trolls!" the reviewer said when the troll turned and locked eyes with Peter then tossed its head back and bellowed.

"Just move!" Peter shouted as they ran and the troll followed them. Peter pushed the door open as they ran then cringed at the sound of the door being torn from its hinges and he headed for the lift. The reviewer was running next to him as he turned to look at the troll and it was heading straight for them. Peter swore as he fumbled for the key then placed the key in the slot and the doors to the lift opened. "Get in!"

'Why is it chasing us?" the reviewer asked as Peter shoved him in the lift and the doors closed behind them.

"I ticked it off," Peter said as he bounced on the balls of his feet and watched the numbers going up. Both of them jumped when the troll's roars came from below them and the lift shook. 'Oh, great, it's climbing up the shaft."

"It's what?!" the reviewer asked when the doors to the lift opened and they ran down the hallway. Peter looked at the weapons that lined the walls when they came into the living room and the reviewer looked back at the lift. The roar echoed from inside the shaft as he looked at Peter and watched him searching the weapon cases. "What is that thing?!"

"I told you. It's a troll and right now it's playing a game of cat and mouse. It's the cat, I'm the mouse and you, uh, are the cheese."

"What does that mean?" the reviewer demanded when a loud ripping sound filled the air and he gasped as the lift went sailing upward and Peter pulled him toward the panic room door and pushed the button.

"It means that it will kill you to get to me!" Peter shouted and the reviewer saw the troll coming into the room and roared, raising its arms into the air. The door to the panic room opened as he pushed the reviewer into the room and smashed the button, making the door close. He had found a large rifle in one of the display cases and the ammo for the rifle as he raised the rifle and looked at the troll. The troll roared when it charged at him and Peter licked his lips. He knew he only had one shot as he wrapped his index finger around the trigger and locked eyes with the troll. "Bang!"

The reviewer jumped when the rifle went off then the room became quiet and he pressed his body against the wall. His heart slammed and squeezed in his chest while he waited for the door to be ripped open when the door opened and Peter appeared, holding the rifle in his hands.

"You can come out now," he said with a hint of a smile as the reviewer carefully walked out and looked at the body of the troll lying in a pool of what he figured was green blood and Peter looked at him with a small smile on his face. "Now that's what I call a trick."

"Ye-yes," the reviewer said then fell to the floor in a dead faint and Peter looked down at him. After checking to see if the reviewer was still alive, Peter walked to the bar when he placed the rifle on the bar, poured a large glass of Midori then saluted the reviewer with the glass and took a long sip of the green liquid.


End file.
